"Apparently, China will not feel jealous of Mangalyaan entering Mars orbit. Chinese people understand that they boast much more advanced technological, economic and social development than India does," state-run Global Times said in its editorial titled 'India's Mars success boosts space research'.

"The Indian public fully expressed their elation at having surpassed China in Mars exploration. China's first Mars exploratory probe, Yinghuo-1, went missing one year after its launch in 2011," the editorial said.

Watched by Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists broke into wild cheers and congratulated each other after the 1,350 kg Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft 'Mangalyaan' was manoeuvred into its designated place.

"There is rhetoric on India's Internet that the success of Mangalyaan is pouring salt into China's wounds, which, however, is too serious and strong a characterisation," the article said.

"Actually, Chinese people have myriad reasons to feel delighted at the success of the Mangalyaan probe alongside Indian people," it said.

"This is pride of India and Pride of Asia and also is the landmark progress in humankind's exploration of outer space. So we congratulate India on that," Hua said.

Almost all the Chinese media featured Mangalyaan's success prominently with photos of celebrations in India.

"The total cost of the Indian mission has been put at Rs 4.5 billion rupees (USD 74 million) cheaper than the cost of making a Hollywood movie," cited reports.

The Global Times, known for its nationalistic posture, however, took a dig at India's Martian achievement saying that "If a country that is relatively backward in scientific research is able to send a probe to Mars, it is highly possible that Yinghuo-2 may succeed in the future."